It was a cold day in August. The leaves of the trees had begun to change and fall, and a cold wind blew in from the north. A beautiful day, but those who knew these lands knew better than to sit around and enjoy it. It was Toronto, after all- where years ago a great uproar had taken root, dredged on, and after many long months, allowed to die. Few remained of this time, and this place. But on the frayed edges stood a gladiator by the name of Dante Rockwell.
While even Dante was unaware of half of what had gone down there, there were a few things he did know and loved to repeat whenever he was looking for an excuse to be angry. He knew that his brother lived here, he knew that his brother died here, and he knew that some bastard named John Doe had known his brother, but somehow forgotten everything to do with him except for a set of baby blue earmuffs. He had a list of names, but the only one that seemed to matter was what Dante assumed to be the source of the violence- Freeborn, the name of the clan his brother was apart of.

In any event, Dante was there to see his brother’s grave and say a few words. But the moment he arrived, he realized just how little he had to say. “So uh… Daemon.” Dante began, speaking to his dead brother, “They uh…” He pointed to the name on the gravestone. “They left out the E in your name. That’s… that- wow, that sure was good of them.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit to himself. He felt like shit for doing it, but honestly it was a little funny. Plus, it wasn’t like anyone could hear him. Immediately after the thought surfaced, a rustling was heard in the bushes behind Dante. Dante laughed that one off pretty quick too.

“No but listen, like- Daemon. I don’t know if you’re in there in the ground or whatever, but… you were a good guy. Dad’s favorite. And if you’re alive, I love you, don’t kill yourself or anything, and if you’re really dead, well- it was nice knowing you. Really nice.”

The bushes had resumed their rustly bustling, and Dante had to admit to feeling a little spooked. This whole place was just too damn Canadian for him honestly and he wondered what his brother had seen in it all those years ago.

Dante turned around to see a 6-and-a-half-foot long white tiger standing behind him.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST,” He cried.

If Dante could describe the expression on the big cat’s face, it would be unamused. But then again, it was hard to say what the tiger seemed to think, or feel at the moment. Especially with the bouquet of flowers in its mouth.

The young woman leaning on the tiger’s head proved to be a much better subject to decipher. She gave him a cheeky grin as she rested her head on her hand while her elbow was on the white tiger’s head; watching him with an amused shine in her eyes.

“Hello,” she drawled, chuckling. The tiger beneath her growled, a roar was beginning to rise from his throat, but she simply glanced down at it. “Now Astor be nice. He’s just a visitor. Like us.”

The tiger huffed in reply, tail lashing wildly.

Dante’s next few reactionary proclamations held about as much merit as his previous, before he eventually made his way to multiple half-formed queries. “Who? Wha… I’m not… I’m alive?!”

Then with a snap of the fingers he was back in tune, er… sort of. “Hold on,” he paused. “You said Astor. Why did you name your tiger after that one girl’s falcon?”

The girl and tiger glanced to each other. They seemed to be...in a conversation? Or at least looking at one another too intently to exactly be anything else. The girl touched her pixie cut hair in confusion, before she laughed and turned back to Dante.

“Because he is that girl’s falcon,” she said simply with a relaxed shrug. “And I guess that makes me the girl.”

Dante wasn’t buying it. “Uh… no, that’s definitely a tiger. And if you’re Rhami, how do you explain the uh…” Dante pointed vaguely in the direction of ‘Rhami’s’ upper body “...age,” he finished weakly.

“Please don’t eat me,” He stuttered to ‘Astor.’

Before the big cat could respond, ‘Rhami’ nudged the tiger gently, grabbing the flowers from its mouth when ‘Astor’ opened his mouth without much fuss. He did glance back at Dante, glaring at him in warning as Rhami approached the grave and placed the bouquet in front of the grave stone.

“Time flies by when you’re off training,” Rhami answered vaguely, smiling like it was a joke. However, a look of sadness that overshadowed her expression, and she closed her eyes with a sigh.

The white tiger followed her, his golden eyes never leaving Dante’s before lying between him and the young woman. The tip of his tail flickered, ears pressing against his head as he hissed at Dante. A gentle hand stroked his head, quietening him as he leaned against his partner’s touch.

A few beats of silence passed between them, before eventually Rhami spoke again.

“I guess it’s hard to believe it,” she began, not meeting with Dante’s gaze as she kept her focus on the tiger, “but I’ve actually been training in another dimension. Crazy huh? One year here, was actually a lot more over there.”

Dante, while still in disbelief, seemed to be taking Rhami’s account seriously. The whole situation was a mess, but what he could see told him that the woman (as well as her tiger, as strange as it sounded) both seemed to take their story seriously, and also seemed to care a good bit about their boy ‘Damon’.

Further still, the facts seemed to be lining up. In addition to his brother, there were at least 6 other members in that clan of his, including the girl and her falcon, who had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth about a year ago. What if they actually had?

But that wasn’t the question that mattered. At least not to Dante. The question that mattered to him was far more simple. And pointing to his brother’s grave, he asked it. “So how did he die?”

Rhami finally looked at him, eyes softening a little as she sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

“It was…” She leaned back, resting against Astor who nuzzled against her face. “Some demons ambushed us in our house. It was all a blur honestly. We tried so hard to keep them back, but somehow they managed to drag Damon away from the rest of us and…” The archer trailed off. “When we found him...let’s just say it wasn’t a pretty sight. Sorry.”

Dante nodded slowly, catching her gaze as he did so. After a moment had passed, he spoke softly, “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that if... a bunch of demons... tried to kill Daemon while I was around, I wouldn’t have been able to do much for him either. And I’m also going to say that if I was given an opportunity to train for a year, that was... actually five to ten years of training, somehow, right- that I would’ve taken it.”

“And since this tiger of yours still wants to eat me,” Dante continued in a deeper tone, eying Astor, “I’m going to also say that I believe everything you’ve said up to this point and that you can go your own way however you please.”

“But tiger or no tiger,” Dante looked back towards Rhami, his voice cracking. “You’re the best lead I’ve got.”

“Lead?” Rhami asked, glancing back to Astor who blinked back. “What do you mean?”

“Daemon, he-” Dante trailed off. “He was my twin. And the bastards that took him?” Dante slammed the ground. “I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill every last one of them.”

“And they’re going to die screaming,” Dante yelled, his voice quivering. “I’m going to drag them by their ankles and rip them apart, one by one, until every last one of them dies. The way he died!”

Rhami and Astor shared another look before Rhami looked away from the young man with more of an embarrassed expression. It wasn’t exactly the proper reaction to have to a person wishing death quite passionately (and loudly) towards the killers of his apparent twin.

Astor sighed at the archer’s reaction. Or rather huffed.

He nuzzled against Rhami’s hand once more. There was a glow that emanated from the touch that shot out to consumed his whole body, reshaping it into another form. A young man with paper pale skin and the same gold eyes sat in the tiger’s place, looking pretty similar to Rhami if she was a man.

“An admirable declaration,” he commented smoothly, tilting his head to the side. “But I’m sorry to say that they’re all gone. Rhami and I dealt them their fate already.”

“Oh.” Dante murmured strangely, his heartstrings forming something of a gordian knot, “I guess that makes sense.”

It was also worth mentioning that seeing double where Rhami and Astor were concerned was playing tricks on his mind. He’d thought Rhami to be a rather fair looking young woman, and was now forced to admit his feelings towards what had been a ferocious tiger staring him down over the course of this entire conversation, forcing him to take a moment to lie down.

“So...you’re his twin huh?” Rhami asked him, a kind smile on her lips. “Dante, right?”

“I uh- yeah, yup. I’m Dante, That’s me.” He giggled and threw Astor a wink.

Astor rolled his eyes, grazing his hand against Rhami’s and changed back to a tiger. Rhami shook her head with a smile. “What brings you here?”

Dante sat up, confused. “Me? Well- there was the- I mean…” He pointed as his brother’s grave, which he realized he was using as a bed, forcing him to his feet.

“But I’m also a gladiator. Like he was, y’know? He went by Epsilon, and I go by Delta. Except with the different hair and stuff people have a bit of trouble putting two and two together. That or he wasn’t actually as popular as he should’ve been.” Dante smiled. “I don’t have powers and stuff like he did, because reasons, but I used to be an engineer so I know what’s up. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I can almost turn my arm into a fully-functional chainsaw. Wanna see?”

Without waiting for an answer, Dante rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a prosthetic arm (one of a set, it would seem) that suddenly sprouted spikes, shook rapidly in every direction, and let out a very loud “VVVRRRRRRRRRRRRGHGGGGGHGHHGHGHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH.”

Dante was proud of his creation. Rhami was more amused by it while Astor looked horrified. She seemed like she was going to comment on it, but her attention was caught again by Astor. They stared at one another meaningfully once more before Rhami sighed while her shoulders slumped.

“You’re right,” she said, rising up to her feet. She gave the grave a lingering look before looking at Dante. “Sorry to keep this short, but as my partner kindly reminded me, we have to go.”

Dante frowned and silenced his makeshift chainsawextremity before filling the air with an equivalent level of white noise. “Wherever to?” He asked, “That other dimension? Can I come? I like other dimensions. And I passed calculus. I can help!” He halfway smiled.

“We’re only going back to the main city,” Rhami chuckled. “I have a meeting with one of the RHG officials about renewing my career as a gladiator.”

“Well you’ll need a sparring partner for that won’t you? Or victim,” Dante gulped.

“I don’t think so,” Rhami smirked, raising a brow while Astor flicked his tail in annoyance. The tiger nuzzled against Rhami’s side, growing large wings and changing his form to be more gryphon-esque as he walked farther away from them and away from the grave. He growled, eyes shrinking in warning.

Rhami met his gaze evenly, before a wicked smile grew on her face. She glanced back at Dante. “But you’re free to come along if you wish.”

She winced immediately, as if struck by some sort of invisible hand but she kept that smile on her lips.

For maybe half a second, Dante was conflicted. Then he shrugged. “Sure. Why not.” A smile crept its way onto his face as well.

Astor glared at the two of them, mane fluffing up as he raised his wings and screeched. Rhami’s eyes were soft.

“Oh come now partner, it’s not like he’s going to stab me,” Rhami said, before her expression fell into a frown. “Well yeah he does have chainsaw but that doesn’t mean that he’ll use it against me.”

She paused, listening to his piece in the silent conversation. A worried look crossed her expression when the gryphon stepped back and looked away, tail swishing between his hind legs. Without skipping a beat, she closed the distance between them and held his mighty head in her hands.

She whispered to him, much too quiet for Dante to hear. Although he might have caught a quiet promise of Astor being allowed to drop him if he did anything suspicious.

Eventually Astor growled, clearly still against the whole thing, but knelt down, folding his wing against his side and revealing his back. Rhami smiled back at Dante, and gestured for the young man to sit first.

“After you.”
Dante straddled that white feathery gryphon quicker than two cottontails under mistletoe. If Astor was uncomfortable with the whole thing, he didn’t show it. Or Dante didn’t really notice.

Rhami followed suit in a more relaxed pace, seating herself behind him. “Hold on to Astor’s mane, just not too tightly. And try not to open your mouth.”

“Okay.” Dante said with his mouth, grabbing Astor’s mane just a little too tight.

Rhami rolled her eyes, patting his hands gently. “Loosen your grip.”

“Okay.” Dante said again, gripping Astor’s mane just a little too loosely.

Rhami smirked. “Eh, close enough,” she muttered before she and Astor shared a conspiratorial look.

Astor shot up to the sky.

And Dante fell into Rhami’s arms.